Newspaper report fears end of Trump’s real estate empire

NEW YORK: A report published in The Guardian says the real estate empire of US President Donald Trump “is beginning to look shaky”, as his surname appears to become a liability after he embarked upon his political career.

The report says Trump’s foray into politics has been disastrous for property prices. “There are ample signs that the longer Trump remains in DC, the less welcome his name will be in cities around the world. While the president may be “a very stable genius”, his real estate empire is beginning to look more than a little shaky,” the report says.

“Plastering the Trump brand – which can cost tens of millions of dollars to lease – on your luxury hotel or apartment complex once added a veneer of prestige and upped profitability; Trump used to boast it would increase a property’s value by 25%. Licensing his name certainly seems to have increased his personal fortune. A financial summary Trump issued when he kicked off his presidential campaign in 2015 valued his “real estate licensing deal, brand and branded developments” at $3.3bn – the most significant single source of what Trump then claimed to be an $8.7bn total net worth.” The Guardian says while these numbers are impossible to verify and have been the subject of much debate, it is unambiguous that the Trump brand has traditionally been a source of considerable value. That may no longer be the case.

Citing a report, it says prices in the 11 Trump-branded condo buildings in Manhattan dropped below the borough average for the first time ever at the end of 2017.

It quoted Gabby Warshawer, director of research for CityRealty, who said, “Any building that chooses to end its association with the Trump brand is likely motivated by financial reasons … [and] no doubt greatly influenced by beliefs about how the brand affects the building’s bottom line.”

“The brand no longer signified premium, but prejudice, said residents: it had become an embarrassment,” says the report.

The newspaper also mentioned that The Trump Organisation declined multiple times to contribute to the story.

“The choice of name perhaps reflected prevailing public opinion towards the Trump hotel collection. YouGov data compiled exclusively for Guardian Cities shows that high-income Americans have a dramatically lower impression of Trump-branded hotels than they do other hotel brands at the same price point,” says the report.

“Canadians, in particular, have been very clear that they don’t want the Trump name associated with their cities. In December 2015, shortly after he called Mexicans “rapists” and criminals, Toronto councillor Josh Matlow campaigned to get the owners of what was then the Trump Tower to change the building’s name.”

“Today the only Trump-branded hotel left in Canada is in Vancouver, and there are rumours it may not last there. Brent Toderian, Vancouver’s former chief planner, says he spoke out as soon as the name was first attached to the building, saying ‘that the Trump name and brand was incompatible with Vancouver’s brand’,” says The Guardian.

Same is the case with Central America, as the news paper says the Trump name may also soon also be scrubbed from the region.

One industry expert told The Guardian that they doubt the Trump name has long-term viability on either residential buildings or hotels. “My instinct says [Trump] is going to end up in a bad situation and developers are going to want to distance themselves. The damage to the name is already profound and will only get worse,” said the source.